


Thunderstorm

by actually_its_cady



Category: Jagged Little Pill - Morissette & Ballard/Morissette/Cody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26367874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/actually_its_cady/pseuds/actually_its_cady
Summary: MJ's staying at Steve's and she can't sleep.
Relationships: Mary Jane "MJ" Healy/Steve Healy
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	Thunderstorm

**Author's Note:**

> College MJ and Steve!
> 
> (also, I haven't written in forever, but I had this idea and just HAD TO)

MJ couldn’t sleep. 

She was so, so comfortable, under the covers with Steve snuggled up next to her. But they were Steve’s covers, and not hers.

She was in Steve’s bed. For the first time.

They hadn’t even done anything, just a little too much wine at dinner, and then a movie that she fell asleep in the middle of, and Steve insisted that she stay over and not have to cross campus in the pouring rain.

And she wanted to. Really, really wanted to sleep in Steve’s bed and wear his stupid ugly Prelaw society tshirt and wake up the next morning and eat pancakes and drink coffee. All she wanted was that sense of normalcy- just a normal college girl and her normal boyfriend having a normal night.

But she couldn't sleep.

It was, in her mind, a weird side effect of that night, at that frat. She had kind of expected the pain (only lasted a few days, anyway) and the crying and the occasional panic attack, but for Christ’s sake, she didn’t think she’d be unable to sleep in any bed but her own.

She couldn’t quite pinpoint why, either. Steve’s bed was safe and warm and Steve hadn’t even suggested they do anything except cuddle. There was nothing to be afraid of. And she was terrified. Her eyes were heavy but every time they drifted shut, they snapped open again. MJ couldn’t see her hands in the dark, but she could feel them shaking. 

She didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t lay here awake all night, but she also couldn’t risk falling asleep and having a nightmare and waking Steve up. Because then he would freak out and dump her and she’d be damned if the one good part of her college experience was taken from her.

She glanced at Steve. He was out cold- mouth open snoring and everything. Quietly, MJ slipped out of bed and grabbed her jeans from the floor, trying to pull them on without making any noise. She looked around the dark room trying to find her shoes and her purse. She had no clue where her umbrella was, and accepted that she was just going to get soaked on the walk back to her apartment. 

Briefly, her brain told her that it was a bad idea to cross campus in the dark by herself. Something bad will happen, she thought. That’s what happens to girls who are out by themselves at night- they’re asking for trouble. 

But the other part of MJ’s brain recognized that the worst had already happened to her. And it happened at a party, surrounded by her friends, with a boy in her chem class. 

What more did she have to lose?

With that, she pulled on her boots and turned to leave, and had almost left the room when light illuminated the room.

“MJ?” Steve asked groggily

She turned around slowly, trying to buy herself time to think of an excuse for why she was dressed and ready to leave Steve’s apartment at two in the morning.

“Are… are you okay? Do you need to leave? What happened?” Steve said.

“I-” MJ started, but cut herself off before she could finish.

“MJ, if you need to leave that’s fine, but I won’t have you walking home by yourself. Can you just sit down and tell me what’s wrong?”

MJ shook her head, eyes filling with tears. Steve was just… so nice, and she couldn’t look at his puppy-dog eyes and tell him that she couldn’t sleep in a bed that wasn’t hers because she was scared.

“Okay, don’t cry, it’s okay, I’ll walk you home right now, just-” Steve said in a rush before MJ cut him off.

“I have… weird dreams when I don’t sleep in my bed. Nightmares, I guess. And I thought I was okay to try sleeping here, but”... she trailed off.

Steve stood up and walked towards her. “Oh, MJ, why didn’t you say so? I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, I never would have had you stay if I had known” he said gently.

“Not your fault, Steve, I… should have said something. I just didn’t know how to say it”. She looked at the ceiling, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall. 

“I’ll walk you back, if you want?” Steve asked. MJ nodded. 

A few minutes later, they were standing on Steve’s front porch, watching the rain pour from the sky. 

“Steve, I really think I’ll be okay by myself. I don’t want you to get all wet” MJ said.

“What’s a little rain? I won’t melt” Steve said with a laugh before grabbing MJ’s hand and pulling her into the downpour.

They ran through campus, dodging puddles and downed branches. When they got close to MJ’s apartment, they saw a pool of water in front of the entryway that was way too big to go around. MJ looked down at her jeans, accepting the fact that they were about to get soaked, when Steve said “Get on my back”

“What?” MJ asked.

“Do you want to stand here in the rain or let me give you a piggyback ride to the door?” Steve answered, laughing a little.

MJ looked at him, bewildered as to how he could be laughing after she dragged him out of bed to trudge across campus in a thunderstorm. 

“Come on, I think we might actually melt if we’re out here for much longer” Steve said while squatting down and holding his arms back.

MJ looked at him again, then jumped on Steve’s back. His arms gripped her legs as he ran through the enormous puddle and into the lobby of her building.

The campus police officer at the front desk looked confused to see two people dripping wet in his lobby, but MJ fished her ID out of her pocket and showed it, and Steve walked to the elevator with MJ still on top of him.

Once they were inside the elevator, MJ said, “Steve, you can put me down, I won’t drown”, to which Steve replied “Nope, I’m taking you all the way”.

He carried her out of the elevator and down the hallway, and then through her apartment to her bedroom, where he gently deposited her to the ground. 

They stood there in MJ’s bedroom and looked at each other for a moment, and then Steve said “if you’re alright, I’ll make my way back so you can get some sleep. Call me tomorrow?”

“Can you stay, actually? If you don’t mind… plus I can’t have you out in that storm again” MJ said softly.

Steve smiled. “Of course I can stay. I am going to need to borrow some clothes, though”.

Ten minutes later, they were snuggled in MJ’s bed, Steve wearing an extra-large football tshirt MJ had found at the back of her closet. Suddenly overwhelmed by how tired she was, MJ started to fall asleep, but said “Thank you, for tonight. I’m sorry I made it so weird”.

Steve shifted so they were looking at each other. “MJ, it’s really okay. I just want you to be comfortable, okay? Everyone’s got stuff. It doesn’t make me think any differently about you. Plus, your bed is comfier than mine, so…”

MJ chucked, and laid her head on Steve’s chest as he wrapped an arm around her back protectively. 

She was almost asleep, and assumed Steve was too, when he kissed the top of her head and whispered, “I’d walk through a hurricane to get to you. Any day of the week”. MJ smiled against his chest and drifted off with Steve holding onto her, protecting her from the storm outside.


End file.
